One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine unopposed by her patients who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electroshock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy - who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. <p>Pitching an extraordinary battle between cruel authority and a rebellious free spirit, Ken Kesey's <i>One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest</i> is a novel that epitomises the spirit of the sixties. This Penguin Classics edition includes a preface, never-before published illustrations by the author, and an introduction by Robert Faggen.<br><br>Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electroshock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy - the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them imprisoned. The subject of an Oscar-winning film starring Jack Nicholson, <i>One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest </i>an exuberant, ribald and devastatingly honest portrayal of the boundaries between sanity and madness.<br><br>If you enjoyed <i>One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest</i>, you might like Anthony Burgess's <i>A Clockwork Orange</i>, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.<br><br>'A glittering parable of good and evil'<br><i>The New York Times Book Review</i><br><br>'A roar of protest against middlebrow society's Rules and the Rulers who enforce them'<br><i>Time</i><br><br>'If you haven't already read this book, do so. If you have, read it again'<br><i>Scotsman</i></p>